Gafcon's Everyday Global Anglicans

At the 2021 Provincial Council for the Anglican Church in North America, Bishop Julian Dobbs of the Diocese of the Living Word had an opportunity to interview Assisting Bishop William Love. As you will hear, this was a pivotal time for Bishop Love as he was being welcomed into the Diocese of the Living Word after having resigned last year from the Diocese of Albany in The Episcopal Church.

Canon Sammy Wainaina is the Provost at All Saints’ cathedral Nairobi and has been in the ministry for 25 years. Sammy and his ministry team at All Saints will be contributing to this month’s “Lift Up Your Hearts” devotions which are available for a free subscription and as an audio podcast. Canon Sammy will be sharing about what their focus will be in the devotions, but also about a major point of focus at All Saints in the Youth and Children’s Ministry. He is also generous in being transparent about his experience with Covid and how it has affected him in his ministry.

For the first part of May, Lorna Ashworth has contributed to Lift Up Your Hearts devotionals. After the Ascensiontide break of devotionals contributed by Ashley Null, Lorna has contributed devotions until the end of May where she focuses on the theme of forgiveness. How do you forgive? Why do we forgive? How can I forgive someone if they won’t even accept that they have done anything wrong? These are the types of questions that Lorna addresses through scripture this month and what we talk about in this episode of Everyday Global Anglicans.

Lorna Ashworth is a Canadian who has lived in England for nearly 26 years after marrying an Englishman she met in Jamaica while on missions. She is a mother of 3 teenage children and is a former member of the General Synod of the Church of England and the Archbishop's Council. Lorna studied theology alongside her husband at Oak Hill Theological College where she completed a degree and MA in theology and loves to see scripture clearly communicated and understood.

In this interview, ++Miguel Uchoa, the Gafcon Primate from Recife, Brazil, talks about his testimony, how God is at work in his province, the challenges his Province is facing, and how we can be praying for him. As a Primate, he has a relational focus on people in sharing the word and building up his leaders in Christ. We learn, that as a wise Archbishop, he is careful NOT to go surfing on the beaches in his hometown of Recife due to shark attacks, but that as a lifelong surfer, he finds other beaches nearby to pursue his pastime.

The book of Revelation can sometimes seem vague and mysterious: what does the symbolism mean; what does the reference to certain numbers of things mean; and how does this speak to the end times?

During the month of April 2021, author and retired vicar, Melvin Tinker, dives into Revelations speaking most directly to how the book demonstrates a vision of the triune glory of God. In times of fear, doubt, and turbulence, a fresh understanding of who God is and who is truly in control can be incredibly heartening and comforting.

Canon Craig Roberts is the Network Leader for the Youth and Children Ministry at Gafcon. He is also the CEO of Anglican Youthworks which has a vision, “To see an effective youth and children's ministry in every church”. Its mission is “to support the work of the gospel in churches and schools to present children, youth and families mature in Christ.” Craig has contributed and helped curate devotional content from his colleagues at Anglican Youthworks for the Lift Up Your Hearts Devotionals in the month of March. 

In this podcast we talk with Craig about:

• The Lift Up Your Hearts devotionals;
• The role of intergenerational discipleship throughout scripture; 
• The Youthworks book on discipleship which has been translated into Swahili, French, and a Burundian language called Kirundi; 
• The loneliness crisis and what in particular most commonly draws young people to Jesus.

At the time of this recording, we were a little over a week away from the beginning of the season of Lent on Wednesday, known as Ash Wednesday, and continuing until Easter. Many Christians from around the world will be committing to the ancient practice of Lent. For that reason, we talk to Archbishop Foley and the Gettys about why it is good, as a church and Christian community to move into Lent together and what importance they have seen in following Lenten practices over the years.

During the interview, Keith refers to one of their songs, “My Worth” which you will be blessed to hear Keith and Kristyn sing together at the end of the podcast. You will be blessed to hear them sing these marvelous words as we enter into and follow along the Lenten journey.

Did you know that the Anglican church is growing in Latin American countries like Brazil and Chile?
In this interview, we are joined by Bishop Samy Morrison of the Diocese of Valparaiso, Chile, France Wood, SAM Missionary in Chile, and Juliane Uchoa, Gafcon Communications Assistant, where we learn about the considerable work of Gafcon translation into Portuguese and Spanish. We also hear about how God is at work, particularly in the countries of Chile and Brazil. 

Bishop Andy Lines (ANiE), Senior Minister Lee McNunn (Trinity Church Scarborough, UK), and Rev Rev Philip de Grey-Warter (Fowey Anglican Church, Fowey, Cornwall, UK), discuss the newly formed jurisdiction, The Anglican Network in Europe (ANiE).

St. Paul’s is the home of the music ministry of City Alight. City Alight is a music ministry in the church with the vision to write songs with biblically rich lyrics and simple melodies for the Christian church to sing. They write music so that average churches can play.

As Gafcon is focusing on the themes of Advent and Suffering Church at the time of this recording, we found that City Alight addressed Advent themes in their lyrics which would be heartening for the faithful around the world who might be experiencing times of despair during this most strange year of Covid and economic challenges. In this interview we will talk about the role he has as a Senior Pastor in helping the ministry of City Alight. We also talk about the rigorous songwriting process at City Alight, about suffering church Christians who are anonymously singing some of their songs, and about joy, true Christian joy as opposed to a joy held by happenstance or circumstances in life.